In this study we will investigate whether the effects of physical activity on cognitive performance are present after short (10 minutes), medium (20 minutes) or longer (30 minutes) bouts of moderate exercise in order to establish the feasibility of implementing exercise programs in a school setting.

Group 1) Acute effects of 10 minutes of physical activity at a moderate level of intensity.
Group 2) Acute effects of 20 minutes of physical activity at a moderate level of intensity.
Group 3) Acute effects of 30 minutes of physical activity at a moderate level of intensity.
Control conditions
Group 1) Reading, filling in questionnaires and solving puzzels for 10 minutes.
Group 2) Reading, filling in questionnaires and solving puzzels for 20 minutes.
Group 3) Reading, filling in questionnaires and solving puzzels for 30 minutes.

- Primary outcome

Cognitive performance on a task measuring selective attention and a task measuring working memory.

Participation in physical activity (PA) has received particular attention in the scientific literature, not only for its beneficial effects on physical and emotional health, but also for its positive effects on cognitive functioning. A single bout of physical exercise has been found to increase performance on tasks measuring higher order cognitive processes, such as attention and working memory.
The majority of studies performed to investigate the relationship between PA and cognitive performance, implement exercise sessions of approximately 30 minutes at a moderate to vigorous level of intensity. Such long exercise sessions are difficult to implement in a school setting, as such, it is necessary to assess whether the effects of physical activity on cognitive performance are present after shorter bouts of exercise.
In this study, we investigate PA-related effects on cognitive performance after engaging in physical exercise at 10, 20 and 30 minutes.